Two-thirds of the 53 countries in the WHO Europe region were already using AI diagnostics, and half had AI-powered patient chatbots. Yet only one in 12 had strategies for governing AI. Hans Henri P. Kluge, the WHO Europe chief, called the gap “concerning” and warned it could take a toll on human health.
AI in stretched health systems
Ricardo Baptista Leite, CEO of HealthAI, the global agency for responsible AI, said artificial intelligence could help healthcare providers identify people at risk of certain conditions before they become ill. That could allow earlier intervention, he said, but technology alone won’t shift health systems from treatment toward prevention.
“If you retrofit AI into an inefficient system, it just makes you very efficient at being inefficient,” Baptista Leite told Euronews. He added: “Technology is not going to save us alone.”
Europe’s ageing population is putting more pressure on healthcare systems that already face strain. Hospitals, Baptista Leite said, often receive payment for treating patients, not keeping them healthy. Moving toward prevention, he argued, would take new funding models that reward early intervention and proactive monitoring.
Prevention means changing incentives
AI could help providers find people who need support before their conditions deteriorate, by analysing health data alongside social factors that affect health. The goal isn’t simply to save someone after a heart attack, Baptista Leite said, but to prevent it from happening.
That change would make early intervention and proactive monitoring part of healthcare funding, rather than depend on treatment after someone becomes ill. Baptista Leite said AI could help providers spot risks earlier, while stressing that the health system also needs to change.
Trust will shape how healthcare uses the technology. Patients and healthcare professionals need confidence that AI systems are safe and that their benefits outweigh their risks. Oversight must continue after a system receives approval and enters clinical practice.
Governance after approval
Kluge warned that AI solutions were spreading through European hospitals while only a few countries governed them. His figures show the gap between deployment and formal oversight: two-thirds of the 53 WHO Europe countries had AI diagnostics in use, half had AI-powered patient chatbots, and one in 12 had strategies for governing AI.
“All of this erodes public trust in health systems more broadly,” Kluge warned. He said the small number of national governance strategies left patients exposed to risks as AI tools entered healthcare settings.
HealthAI is working with regulators in 10 countries to develop a global early warning system. It’s intended to identify adverse events and share information about emerging risks.
“These kinds of mechanisms will allow us to avoid harm at scale, if something does go wrong, so that we can detect it in time and keep citizens safe,” Baptista Leite said. The proposed system would detect adverse events and circulate information about risks after AI systems enter use.